October 23, 2006

Oppositions

After the last couple lectures listening to Ozayr talk about oppositions I began to think about the world a little differently. When asked to write about oppositions I immediately thought of humans and our opposition against nature. That as humans our population is growing so fast that we are displacing nature. Sadly enough, nature is what provides us with the power and energy to continue to grow. In essence we are biting the hand that feeds us.

My first example of this is the rainforest and it's destruction. It is estimated that every year 10 to 12 million acres of rain forests are being completely destroyed. If this continues than it is estimated that by 2010, 50 percent of the world's rain forests will be detroyed. Humans need trees for oxygen, paper, fire, shade and many other things. We CAN'T destroy the rainforest because we need it to survive.
There are many resolutions to this opposition but something needs to be done now. We could protect the rainforests as an endangered "species" because humans need the rainforest and the animals living in the forest need the trees and environment to stay the same. If this changes than these animals will disappear as well. We need to make an effort to protect the rainforest before we can expect change to happen. In my mind it is also very necessary to begin conscienciously building our houses. We need to try and cut down on suburban sprawl and especially work on not destroying our environment. This may mean building up instead of out. It could also mean building a house that encompasses the trees and supports its environment. Working around something instead of destroying it.

Another opposition is between little corner store treasures and the construction of Condiminiums. I grew up in Minnetonka and one of our corner store treasures was a restaurant called Gold Nugget. Gold Nugget is a teeny hole in the wall burger joint that has been in the Glen Lake square for a very long time. Recently there have been alot of developers building condominiums in Glen Lake and they bought Gold Nugget and are going to turn it into condos. You may ask yourself, what is going to happen to this restaurant? To this jewel that everyone in the surrounding area loved and felt as if they had discovered it? As of right now nobody knows if Gold Nugget will move locations because there is no place for them to move. Minnetonka lost its jewel to some more condos.

And lastly, it never ceases to amaze me how much the Gophers stink at defeating their opposition (every football team in our division besides Tempe and barely NDSU, wow)
A resolution, fire Glen Mason.

October 9, 2006

The Devastation After the Unimaginable

I chose the Tsunami which happened in the Indian Ocean in 2004 as my phenomena. I feel that this is something that greatly affects the people of this world and changed many lives. A phenomena is something that impacts peoples lives whether spirirtually or physically. This tsunami impacted people's lives both physically by destroying the places where people lived and interacted and by destroying their beings. Their families, lives, and feelings were ripped apart and demolished in a matter of minutes. People's entire lives changed.

The tsunami falls into the category of things because one can feel it, hear it, and see it. It is graspable in the physical realm to human beings. The tsunami also displaces space by both displacing the cities it destroys and changing the way of the ocean. The tsunami has mass, size, and is measurable. The tsunami in the Indian Ocean measured a 9.0 on the richter scale.

The tsunami also falls into the category of frameworks because it has a relationship between it's power and the destruction it causes. It's power also has a relationship between the size of the tsunami.

Clockwork is also an aspect of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. The tsunami rose out of the ocean, destroyed it's target than disappeared back into the ocean. This is also timewise and because of it's physical properties it can be potentially be predictable. Although, the 2004 tsunami was not predictable and very sudden. The tsunami also has a retreat and rise cylce which occurs every 30 minutes during the tsunami.

A beautiful day.
The sun shining down,
while children play.
All smiling faces, not one frown.

The water began to swell.
People began to run for higher ground.
Screams and cries make me feel I'm in hell,
Our lives suddenly not so sound.

After the tsunami died away,
The sun was still as bright as a yellow school bus,
But the children didn't play.
The destructed silence fell upon us.

October 2, 2006

Home is Where the Heart is

There is a difference between house and home.

My home is a place with feelings and character connected. It is what creates the emotions that I feel when I think of it. A place which is where my family gathers, everyone supports one another. My home is a meeting place and my rock. A place where I have personal stabillity; guarenteed support and love. My home is open, warm, caring and inviting.

My house is a space with walls and ceilings and floors. The wood floors are a honey brown color and the walls are warm colors of cream and butter. The house has peaked high ceilings and large bay windows. The house allows for sunlight to seep into my home and to look out over the nature surrounding it. My house is a remodeled rambler and has that updated look.

My Orientation at this place is knowing that this is my home. This is where my childhood took place and where my family meets. This is where I will always be welcome.

My Identification is that my house is in Minnetonka, a small suburb in Minnesota. My house is located on Spring Lake Road. A small, curvy road that is dense with trees, flowers, and shrubs. A road where the houses aren't packed in tight, where everyone has a front and back yeard.

My house and home are a place specific for me but general to everyone. It's Genius Loci are all of these things bonded together into one thing, mi casa.